It's the first time I publish vintage nudes. The idea to come back to the beginnings came suddenly in my mind. And the pionners ? In a time where nude was only permitted in painting ? These photographers were courageous and opened the door to fine art nude. Here is my tribute and my thanks to each of them who violated the social norms of their time for our art.
"The nude is and always has been one of the most popular subjects for photography.
No one knows exactly when the first nude photographs were taken, but they seem to have first turned up in Paris around 1845 at opticians, instrument makers and art dealers.
The content of these images ranged widely, from nudes seen altogether decently from the back, in the manner of classical ‘academy figures’, all the way through to brazen displays of genitalia and sex." Akantiek
"Since the first days of photography, the nude was a source of inspiration for those who adopted the new medium.
Most of the early images were closely guarded or surreptitiously circulated as violations of the social norms of the time, since the photograph captures real nudity.
Many cultures, while accepting nudity in art, shun actual nudity. For example, even an art gallery which exhibits nude paintings will typically not accept nudity in a visitor. Male naked bodies were not pictured as frequently at the time. An exception is the photograph of the early bodybuilder Eugen Sandow modelling the statue The Dying Gaul, illustrating the Grecian Ideal which he introduced to bodybuilding." Wikipedia
Alfred Cheney Johnston
Ziegfeld Follies Girls, 1920s
"Alfred Cheney Johnston (1885 - 1971) was a professional American photographer who often photographed Ziegfeld Follies. He also maintained his own highly successful commercial photo studio, producing magazine ads for a wide range of upscale retail commercial products, mostly men's and women's fashions, and also photographed several hundred artists and showgirls, including nude photographs of some.
Most of his nude images (some named, mostly anonymous) were, in fact, showgirls from the Ziegfeld Follies, but such daring, unretouched full-frontal images would certainly not have been openly publishable in the 1920s–1930s, so it is speculated that these were either simply his own personal artistic work, and/or done at the behest of Flo Ziegfeld for the showman's personal enjoyment." Wikipedia
Albert Arthur
1920s
Constantine Gedal
Florence Henri
Gaudenzio Marconi
Hazel Forbes
Heinrich Zille
Lehnert and Landrock
1900/1910
Philip Abbott
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